Black Watch: Today’s Top Stories

One of the reasons homo sapiens open the newspaper in the morning is so that we might, however briefly, however tangentially, identify with the plight of our fellow man. “Only connect,” suggests E.M. Forester’s epigraph from Howard’s End; and in that spirit I ask who among us doesn’t connect with Darren Sukonick? Among other things, there’s the business of leaving a phone message or e-mail we wish we hadn’t. The difference between happy anonymity and public disgrace is all there in the push of a button. Send or delete? Send—oops! This passage from Paul Waldie neatly describes the particular circle of hell to which Sukonick has descended.

“In an e-mail, Mr. Sukonick told Mark Kipnis, one of the defendants, that the payments did not have to be disclosed because the money had come directly from CanWest. Mr. Sukonick added that the lawyers for the lender agreed with his position and that the issue was ‘dead.’ Mr. Safer pointed out that the other lawyers had not agreed. ‘That caused quite a fluff [at Torys] didn’t it?’”

“Quite a fluff.” There’s an understatement for the ages. Torys subsequently paid Hollinger shareholders $30 million—the largest settlement by a law firm in Canadian history. Moreover, given the continuing train wreck that constitutes Sukonick’s testimony, there’s also the possibility of more to come. And all, if you’ll forgive a vast oversimplification, at the push of a button. Oops.